How to GET A JOB in North America

Duh duh duh, duh duh duh, duh duh duh, I'm hunting for a job, duh duh duh duh duh.

Job hunting.

Welcome, my name's Ronnie.

I'm going to teach you some things about getting a job in Canada, North America.

Hopefully you get a job.

Good luck.

But there are some things that you need to know before you get your wonderful job, and

I'm not talking about anything to do with visas or work permits.

I'm just teaching you vocabulary, things you need to do.

So, this lesson's called "Job hunting".

Job hunting means you look for a job, and it's like a hunt, because you have to source

out the best company for you and make sure that they're actually going to pay you for

what you're worth and that you actually maybe like your job.

One thing to be conscious about, especially if you speak Spanish, especially Mexican,

"career".

So, as I understand in Spanish, in Mexican Spanish, I don't know if it's Spain as well,

a career is what you study at a university.

Nuh-nuh.

In English, your career means your job.

For example, my career is that I am an English teacher.

How did that happen?

Career does not mean what I studied in university or college.

What I studied in university or college is called my major.

So please, please, please be careful.

Your carab - your corab, carab - your career means your job.

What you studied at university is called a major.

So, I could say to you "What is", or "what was your major?"

If I say, "What is your career?" it means "What is your job?"

Another thing that can get very confusing is the word "job" itself.

Job is a noun, so we use it like this.

I have a job.

Or, I don't have a job.

What is your job?

We do not say "What is your work?", okay?

Work we can use as a verb and a noun, but we're talking about job as a noun.

I have to go to my job, okay.

No problem with that.

But, most of the time, we have to be careful with job and work.

Be careful.

You're not going to die if you say it wrong, but this is something to watch out for.

So, the first thing that you need to do is you need to do some work.

You need to prepare or make what is called a resume.

So, we steal this word from French.

Thank you, French people out there, and we probably say it terribly wrong.

It's also called a CV.

This is a Latin word for it, CV or resume.

In Canada and in America, we call it a resume.

In the UK and in different parts around the world, they're going to call it a CV.

Same thing.

The other thing that is very useful for people, I don't know why, is that's called a cover

letter.

So, you have your resume, your resume will explain your work experience, your education,

you do not need to put a picture of yourself on a resume in Canada and America.

I know some countries you do, Japan, Korea.

You do not need to put a picture.

Don't put a picture, okay?

So, you don't have to worry about getting yourself right and all the filters and apps,

because you use them a lot.

So, on your cover letter, you need to basically introduce yourself to the company, and you

need to sell yourself.

You need to say "I am the most fantastic hamburger maker in the world, you need to hire me now!

If you don't hire me, you're going to regret it."

You can tailor your cover letter and your resume, depending on which job you are applying

for.

So, tailor means you change it, or you alter it, so that it's very good.

For example, let's say that you work in a restaurant as a server, but you also work

as a bookkeeper, or you do something at a desk job.

If you're going to apply for a restaurant job, you do not include your background work

in an office.

So, what you're going to do is you're going to only include what's relevant for the job

you're applying for.

If I'm applying for a job as an airplane pilot, they don't need to know what I'm an English

teacher, so you need to be sure that your resume and your cover letter targets or tailors

the job you're looking for.

You can change it; you can leave stuff out.

It doesn't matter, as long as you're direct and to the point.

If the company likes your resume and your beautiful cover letter, you might have to

do what's called a preliminary interview.

So, preliminary means before, so this can be on the phone or it can be online.

Usually, you don't actually go to the job place, depending on the job, but you will

have some kind of preliminary interview.

What they're doing is they're just checking that you're alive, they have the right contact

information, you can speak, and they can do what's called weed people out.

Weed, hello.

If you weed someone out, it means that you take out the bad people right away.

So, they weed people out.

So, if they call you many times, you don't answer or you're not articulate enough to

answer their questions or they don't like you for some reason, they don't waste their

time, they don't waste your time of having another interview.

So, the preliminary interview, it's very important.

It's the first chance that they talk to you or they see you online.

So, be neat.

Take a shower, brush your teeth and be nice to people.

If you need job interview tips, I've done a lesson on that as well, it'll help you answer

those annoying questions that they ask you.

And once you've passed the preliminary interview, they call you again.

Why are you calling me?

And they give you another interview.

Now, this could be one interview.

So, you're going to go to the interview and they're going to ask you more questions.

If they like you, maybe they will give you another interview.

This is okay, don't worry, if you pass the first interview and they give you a second

interview, this is good.

You might be nervous, don't worry.

It's good if you get a second interview.

If you get a preliminary interview and nothing else?

Done, new job search.

But interviews are important, and this is where many people become very, very, very

nervous.

Hey, relax.

It is just another human asking you questions.

So, tips for this: Don't be afraid.

It's just a person.

You can't think of this person like "Oh my god, they're a boss or a CEO of a company!"

Nah nah nah, these are just humans, so they are going to ask you questions.

Don't be afraid to be yourself.

Please make sure that you smell good, you dress well, but don't be someone else.

Don't try and be someone you're not, because in the end, if it's not suited for you and

you don't like the job, you've wasted your time.

So, don't try to hide who you are.

Exert your personality.

Ask questions.

They're asking you questions.

Guess what?

You can ask them questions.

Try to get more money.

So, they say "What do you know about this company?"

Okay, so you've researched the company, you want to ask some questions.

How much money are you going to pay me to do this job?

Ask them right away.

Why waste your time?

You are a valuable person.

Don't let a company pay you the least amount of money they can.

Get more money, hello!

Ask questions about the company.

Ask about the hours, ask about benefits, ask anything that you want that will help you

determine if you want the job, okay?

They will always give you the lowest salary or the lowest amount that they can.

So, if you go for an interview and they say, "We'll give you 12 dollars an hour."

Well, you can bargain with them and say "You know, I've been doing this for a long time.

I'm not - I don't think 12 dollars an hour is fair.

How about 14?"

Wow!

You can bargain with them.

Maybe you're going to arrive at 13.

So, there's always a chance - a chance - to get more money than they're offering you.

Another thing you can talk about is benefits.

Benefits are things like dental insurance or prescriptions, extra things that, in Canada

at least, our healthcare system doesn't cover.

America is different, I don't know other countries.

So, you can bargain.

You can say "Well okay, if you're not going to give me more money, how about give me benefits?"

Companies don't like this, because they don't like to give people money.

Companies don't like to pay people what they're worth.

You have to fight for this, and the more you fight, the better you appear in most cases.

So, you've done a good job of negotiating, they like you, you didn't say bad words in

the job interview, I've done that, and they hire you!

You get what's called "hired".

So, maybe they call you or they send you an email and said, "You got the job!"

Woo-hoo, or "You got the position.", okay?

This is called "hired".

I was hired, or I am hired.

This is a very good thing.

Most places will want you to sign a contract.

Not scary.

A contract is just that you agree to their rules and you're not going to bad things at

your work, your boss signs, you sign it, you date it, official.

Read this, though, okay?

Make sure there's nothing on the contact that you don't like, or if there's something you

want to add, tell them.

For example, I will not be photographed at my job.

I don't like having my picture taken, you will not photograph me.

Sign it, good.

Nothing they can do.

So, whatever you want, you ask them for.

If you don't ask, you don't get it, okay?

So be smart.

Uh-oh.

You might hear someone say, "I lost my job".

You lost it, where did it go?

You just went there yesterday and it was there.

No.

If you lost your job, this means that maybe you were fired.

I don't know why we say "fired", fire, ah!

So, if you were fired, it means that your boss said to you "Hey, guess what Ronnie,

you can't work here anymore."

It might be a shock to you.

Oh, okay, fine, good.

Don't try to bargain with people, just leave, okay?

If they don't like you?

Alright.

You could also - get called, "laid off".

So, laid off is similar to fired.

It depends on the words they use.

Laid off basically means they don't have enough hours or time for you to work, and there is

a kind of idea that maybe, when they have enough hours for you to work, they will hire

you back.

"Fired" means you lose your job completely.

There is no coming back, I'm sorry, bye-bye, door is closed.

"Laid off" just means we don't have work available for you now, maybe in the future, if we still

like you, you can have your job back.

These two are bad, most of the time.

There's one thing you can do if you don't like your job is you can quit.

Now, the difference is if you quit your job, it means that you make the decision to leave.

You say "Boss, hey, thank you for working here, thank you for giving me this job, but

I don't want it anymore, thank you.

Bye-bye."

So, if you quit, you tell your boss you don't want to work anymore.

If you are fired, they tell you "We don't want you to work here anymore."

So, fired is the boss' choice and quit is your choice.

So, if you don't like your job, quit.

Don't put up with people you don't like.

Be careful.

If you are fired or laid off from your job, we have rules and laws in Canada that a lot

of people don't know about, and your boss will not tell you this.

Why?

Because they don't want to pay you.

We have this thing called two weeks termination pay.

Example: You go to work on Friday and your boss says, "You know what, we don't want you

to come in on Monday, you are fired."

Okay, perfect.

What you are legally entitled to is two weeks termination pay.

That means you will be paid by this company for two weeks of work.

You have choice, you can work the two weeks - don't do that - or you can not go to work

on Monday, they will pay you for two weeks.

Now, this is in Canada.

Let me stress that.

I don't know about the other rules in other countries, so this is in Canada.

We have another wonderful thing called vacation pay.

Now, a lot of companies don't pay you this either, and you have to ask for it.

Vacation pay is a percentage of your salary or of your wages, your money, and if you're

fired or terminated from your job, they must pay you your vacation pay.

Again, you have to ask, because they're not just going to volunteer to give you $600 if

they don't have to.

You have to be aware of your rights as a worker.

In Canada, we have a labor board, and they will help you with things like this, but please

check it out.

Don't let anyone steal your money that's rightfully owed to you, because businesses love to do

this.

The working class doesn't - there's no rights, they think that - oh, they don't know.

Yes, you do.

You have rights, you have money, get it.

One other good thing you can get is called a promotion if you do your job well.

Hopefully your company's good, your boss is nice, everything's cool, a promotion.

A promotion means you get more money for your job and you might get what's called a different

position or a job title, okay?

So, a job title, a different job title means you move from Accounting 1 to Executive Accountant,

perfect, congratulations.

You've changed your job title.

You might change your job position but not your job title, it just means what they call

you in your job.

Most promotions, they always give you more money, maybe you don't get a different position

or a different job title, that's okay.

You just want the money!

There's another thing that you have to be aware of as laws and rules, and it's going

along with getting fired.

It's called wrongful dismissal.

Wrongful dismissal are - or is - a thing that will happen.

For example, your boss just fires you because they didn't like your shirt that day or something

happened and your boss is like "Nah, I don't want this person to work here."

That's illegal, they can't do this.

I had an experience with this.

I worked for a school, I asked for a raise, they fired me.

That's wrongful dismissal.

You can't do that.

If you have been wrongfully dismissed, so they fired you for no reason, what you're

going to do is you're going to contact the labor board in Canada and you're going to

speak to someone, and they will help you.

We have laws and rules.

The labor board is on your side.

They want you to benefit from this.

So, wrongful dismissal means you're fired for the wrong reasons.

You can fight this.

You might have to get a lawyer, but don't worry.

If you're wrongfully dismissed, it's your job and your right to get this money.

So, if you're looking for a job, I wish you a lot of luck.

Remember, you are worth a lot.

Please don't settle for jobs where you are not valued as a worker and they ask you to

work extra, you need to get paid for what you work for, because we run the country,

not the CEOs, okay?

So, everyone out there, good luck on your job hunt, and we'll see you later.